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27 February 2015

Two reviews in one for todays post. This is the rest of my Ziaja skincare review. Along with the mask I reviewed here I was also sent the concentrated nourishing cream and the gel scrub from the Olive leaf range,

The nourishing cream is a thick cream but it's not too heavy on the skin. I have combination skin so I have areas that need a bit more moisture to get rid of the dry, flaky patches. This is quite a nice cream. I love that it has SPF 20 in it. It smells just like the rest of the range. It's a slightly masculine scent but it fades after a bit so don't let that put you off. A little goes a long way as it is quite thick but it spreads very easily. I think this would suit me more in the winter time when my skin gets a bit battered. It says it's suitable for all skin-types and I have tried it on people with very different skin to mine. I would say if you have fierce dry skin with prickly patches then this probably won't get rid of them but it will soften them a tiny bit.

The Olive leaf scrub is a micro-exfoliator and it is jam packed with tiny exfoliating particles. You'd want to take it handy with this as it will make your face quite red if you scrub even the slightest bit heavy handed. I've heard that if you want a deeper scrub you should scrub faster not harder and in circular motions. I like the gel formula as its easier to wash off in my opinion. My skin is left smoother after using this but I haven't noticed any difference to my pores so far. Again a little goes a long way so you only need a small amount to cover your entire face. I've also mixed this in with my handwash to give my hands a nice scrub after removing my nail polish. I much prefer this to my Dr Organics Scrub as it doesn't feel as heavy on my skin and I feel so much fresher after using this scrub.

26 February 2015

This is a recent NOTD. I ended up putting this on after Barry M Greenberry started to look a bit dodgy on my nails.I needed a polish that would be quick to apply with an easy formula and one that would look good. I haven't worn A-England Tristam for a while so I ended up putting that on. I really started to focus on polishes that haven't been worn as a full manicure for a while. As much as I like buying new polishes I really want to know that I am getting my money's worth. No matter what price the polish was, it needs to be used!

This is 2 coats of Tristam over a base of Sally Hansen Miracle Cure. I topped it off with a single coat of Sally Hansen Miracle Cure topcoat. I will be doing a full review on this topcoat in the coming weeks in case you are curious as to how well it wears etc. I actually really enjoyed wearing this polish! It lasted 2 days with only minor tipwear before I ended up taking it off to give my nails a break. I was thinking about getting more A-England polishes but it's more awkward/ expensive now with shipping etc. Maybe if they bring out a really special collection it will be worth the extra cents.

24 February 2015

I picked out two polishes for this challenge but you can't really see one of them. I have Estee Lauder Black Turquoise and Catrice Million Styles topcoat in Return of the space cowboys.

I started off with 2 coats of Black Turquoise. This is a slightly darkened teal polish. It makes a great base for the Catrice topper. Once that was dry I added on 2 coats of Return of the Space Cowboys. This is a teal blue-purple duochrome shimmer. It's a really pretty polish but I think you need to layer it over a similar colour base.

Check out the polishes the over ladies featured on their blog for this theme below:

23 February 2015

This manicure was based on a pin I came across on Pinterest. It's not an exact replica but it's close enough for me. I started with a polish I don't use all that often. Sinful Colors Why not is a nice plain blue. Great formula, I have on 2 coats but you could do one if you favour thicker coats. The white is NYC Pinstripe white. The rest of the polishes I used are- Sinful colors Rise and Shine (green), Folly (pink) Nail the Bytch Lick or ish bytch (red) Nails inc atomic (orange) NYC Lexington yellow and Orly Liquid Vinyl (black). I added on a matte topcoat once all of the polishes were dry.

I don't love it as much as my previous Snoopy manicure but I think it's pretty nice. I love reading so I couldn't resist recreating this pin as a manicure.

20 February 2015

This was a recent NOTD. I haven't worn any of the Barry m Gelly Hi shine polishes for a while. The formulas have gotten fairly thick on them which is disappointing. This needed 3 coats to be opaque and it looked a tiny bit thick on my nails. I added on a coat of the Sally Hansen Miracle gel topcoat to help the polish last a bit longer.

I had to take this off after 3 days as it was looking fairly shoddy. It had a load of dents and it just didn't look good on my nails. I like the colour a lot but it's not a polish I reach for a whole lot due to the formula. It takes a good while to dry too! I think I had to give each coat a good 20 minutes to dry before even thinking about adding on another coat. It's just something to think about if you are looking to buy this polish.

17 February 2015

Another Twinsie Tuesday post and have some polka dot nail art! I love polka dots and it feels like forever since did some some so here they are. These are a perfect match of my purse which is pretty plain. It's just a plain nude coloured bag with gold hardware. I pretty brighter bags but I thought having at least one neutral bag would be a good idea.

I have on 2 coats of Sally Hansen Patent gloss in Chic. This is pretty much the exact colour of my purse so that was fairly handy. Once that was dry I dotted on Catrice goldfinger for the base of the polka dot. I then added on OPI Goldfinger to make it all nice and glittery. I topped it off with a coat of Sally Hansen Miracle gel topcoat.

I love how short my nails are but I've been thinking of growing them out just a bit. We'll see how that goes. They have started peeling a bit which is annoying. I always use a strengthening basecoat. Short of nubbing them again I'm not too sure how to deal with the pealing. Any tips on dealing with this would be appreciated!

16 February 2015

Big Hero 6 is one of the latest animated films to come out. I haven't seen it yet but I love the look of the chunky robot that stars in it so I came up with some nail art based on him.

I started off using Sally Hansen Miracle gel in Street flair. This is a 2 coat polish that wears really well. I have a full review on this collection if you are interested including a wear test

Halfway down the nail I added on 2 coats of Nails inc St James. Once that was half-way dry I added on some Born Pretty Store hex glitters. On the accent nail I painted on NYC Pinstripe white instead of St James. The black is Orly Liquid Vinyl. I topped it off with a coat of Essence Soft touch matte topcoat. My bottle is pretty low so it ended up a bit streaky which was a shame.

The colours I used are all based on his armour. That's pretty much it! I definitely need to get a new matte topcoat. The only thing I don't like about them is the fact they leave little white solid dots on your nails. It's weird and it does take away from your manicure.

13 February 2015

I'm fairly late on the whole Radiant orchid trend in fairness. It's not a colour that stood out to me initially (but it's a damn sight better than marsala that's for sure!). Orchid from the Barry m Silk Collection is beautiful and it really deserves a mention despite it no longer being the colour of the year (which I think is a shite notion anyway just fyi.)

Orchid is a 3 coater but it is well worth the effort. It's full of very fine pink and purple shimmers and it is stunning on the nail. One thing I will say is that this is more of a sunny weather polish. The shimmers will really sparkle in the sun and it completely changes the overall look of the polish. Now they do dry matte but honestly they are just beautiful with a glossy topcoat. Personally I wouldn't leave them matte, they look so plain and dull.

12 February 2015

Face masks are one of my favourite things to use. I will try any brand or type of face mask to find the perfect one for me. I have tried a good few recently but one of the most interesting ones came from the brand Ziaja. This is the Olive Leaf regenerating mask with hyaluronic acid. Now this is actually the full size of the product which might put you off initially but you will get a good 3-4 uses out of the sachet. It's not great in terms of storage but for €0.69 you can't really complain.

It's also a bit different in terms of application. It looks just like a moisturizer and when you smooth it on your face and neck it's clear. There is no need to wash it off after 10 minutes either, You just rub the excess cream into the skin or wipe it away with warm water on a cotton ball.

I have combination skin- I am oily on my nose and chin with dry patches on my cheeks (around my pores) and around my nose. That's just to mention a few of the problem areas. I also tried this on a person who suffers with super dry, lumpy patches of skin. In both cases I really didn't notice a difference after removing the mask. I didn't enjoy the feeling of this on my skin. It's like a gel that doesn't sink in.

Overall I'm feeling pretty neutral about this mask. I don't hate nor do I love it. For the price I'd say give it a go. Skincare is something that you really need to try for yourself because it could work wonders on you. Sure if it doesn't work for you,it's only €0.69.

10 February 2015

I am seriously excited to show ye this manicure. The "Anti-Valentine day" theme didn't really appeal to me. I don't care about Valentines but I don't hate it like some people do. I wasn't sure what I would do for this theme until I saw a picture of the minions on google images and I adapted it to fit the theme.

I have on 2 coats of OPI I just can't cope-acabana on my index finger, 2 coats of Catrice Lucky in lilac on my ring finger and2 coats of Illamasqua Monogamous on my middle finger and 2 coats of Sally Hansen Patent Gloss in Chic on my pinky finger.

All the black details are done using Sally Hansen Patent Gloss in Vinyl. The white is NYC Pinstripe white. The silver is my Kiss nail art striper in Silver. For the heart I used Max Factors Red passion. For the evil minions hair I dabbed on Julep Gayle (although you can't really see it in the picture it really made a difference to the overall look). The Blue stripes on my pinky are done using Barry m Denim (to represent the little minion overalls)

09 February 2015

Sinful Colors Endless blue is a nice cobalt blue creme. This doesn't have any shimmer which is nice. I always find that shimmery polishes tend to need an extra coat to cover up the nail line. The formula is really thick. It's not too hard to control but you really need to wipe the brush a good bit before you try to paint your nail. Otherwise you are going to be dealing with a flooded cuticle and with a colour like this there will be a tonne of staining.

Now I am pretty decent at applying nail polish at this stage. It's not always 100% perfect but it looks good enough. This polish just looked shite on me. Despite leaving each coat to dry for over 20 minutes each, this bubbled quite badly on all of my nails. This really annoyed me seeing as I was so careful applying it and letting it dry. I have on 2 coats by the way. I am reluctant to wear this again. What's the point of wasting time applying polish if it's going to bubble?

05 February 2015

I haven't worn an Essence polish in a fair while. After doing a little clean up of my polishes I came across Dopey and decided that this would be my NOTW. It's been quite a while since I've worn Dopey as a full manicure. My bottle is almost half gone now so I'll only really get a couple more uses out of it before it's empty.

Here I have 3 coats of Essence Dopey over a base of Sally Hansen Miracle Cure nail strengthener. I topped it off with a coat of Sally Hansen Miracle gel topcoat. Dopey is a sheer polish. It's opaque in 3 coats on my short nails. It's a delicate looking polish and the hint of the silver glitter running through it is lovely. I just wish it was more opaque!

03 February 2015

Monochromatic is the theme for this weeks Twinsie Tuesday post. I find myself having to google more and more of these prompts to find out what they actually mean in nail art terms.

I went with a grey theme. I am really enjoying grey nail polish at the moment. It's not a colour I would normally go for but I found a few that I really like so I combined them in this manicure.

I started off with 2 coats of Catrice Sing hey dirty lilah. Once that was completely dry I striped off the nail and filled in little sections using Sally Hansen Complete Salon manicure in Greige and Lac Attack Puddle Jumping. The silver glitter outline is Kiss nail art striper in Silver. I topped it all off with Essence Soft Touch matte topcoat.

02 February 2015

I ended up not posting last week after getting sick. I'm finally getting back to normal so hopefully it'll be back on track this week. Today I wanted to show you my Twinsie Tuesday post that was due last week. It was inspired by a celebrity which is not something I tend to do. I don't really have an interest in celeb's so I went to google images to see if I could find a good one. I ended up going with a manicure that Zoey Deschanel wore.

I struggled a bit with this one. I started off with a white base. I striped off the corners and painted on Sally Hansen Patent gloss in Vinyl. I dotted that same polish on the white and topped it off with Essence Soft touch matte topcoat. In person it doesn't look as dodgy I have to say. Overall I think it came out ok.